Training Program

Field Placement Sites

Field instruction is an integral part of a social worker's training. It involves a close mentoring relationship with a clinical supervisor, multi-faceted clinical experiences, consultation with other discipline faculty and staff, team collaboration, and coordination of care with community professionals. Field placements occur in several different settings in the Department of Psychiatry, also known as Mental Health and Wellness. Placements are systematically designed, supervised, and evaluated on the basis of how successful the intern is at achieving their learning objectives.

The following sites offer placements. All sites are housed at Strong Memorial Hospital Mental Health and Wellness, located at 300 Crittenden Boulevard, unless otherwise specified.

Psychiatric Emergency Department

Strong Memorial Hospital is home to the Monroe County Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) which is located in the Emergency Department. This is a busy environment that operates 24/7. Interns have the opportunity to observe psychiatric evaluations and are exposed to a broad range of mental health diagnosis. Students will be trained to complete psychosocial risk screens and evaluations. They will also have the opportunity to learn crisis intervention skills on the phone and in-person, with patients who are experiencing acute psycho-social or psychiatric crisis. A preceptor model of supervision is used, along with a team approach. This placement is a good match for a motivated student with some mental health experience,a positive attitude and interest in learning assessment, diagnostic and crisis intervention skills with an acute psychiatric population.

Adult psychiatric inpatient beds are located on the second and third floor of the psychiatry wing of the hospital. Students will work on an interdisciplinary team and learn to complete psychosocial risk screens and assessments, participate in DSM diagnostic formulations, implement treatment interventions, provide crisis intervention, discharge planning and education. Discharge planning includes contact with community providers as well as with patients, families and other inpatient staff. Students will participate in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, case conferences, and patient rounds.

This is a short-term diagnostic and acute intervention unit for children and adolescents located on the fourth floor. The unit provide crisis stabilization for patients who are typically suicidal or homicidal.

Interns will be part of an interdisciplinary team that meets daily to review cases and discuss treatment planning. They will learn to complete social work assessments, identify appropriate interventions, participate in family/agency meetings, and provide continuity of care with outside agencies for discharge planning. No previous experience is necessary, as there is significant support for students developing the necessary skills to function in this fast-based rapid turnover unit. Previous child/adolescent experience in a crisis setting is helpful.

The Adolescent Partial Hospital Program serves youth 13-18 who do not require inpatient treatment, but are not able to manage in the community. There are social workers and a social work assistant assigned to this program. The social workers function as primary therapists and the social work assistant provides discharge planning and milieu management. Students are exposed to family systems, CBT, DBT and crisis intervention. The CAPHS provides individual and family treatment, as well as group interventions.

The students in this practicum complete comprehensive diagnostic assessments and treatment planning, and provide outpatient psychotherapy for patients requesting help with depression, anxiety, personality disorders and other mental health disorders. The student is exposed to a wide range of patients, and learns the theory and practice of various psychosocial interventions, including cognitive-behavioral treatment, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and brief psychodynamic psychotherapy. The students primarily provide treatment to individuals and groups. Modalities include the most sophisticated and advanced psychopharmacological treatments as well as time-honored psychotherapeutic ones. Opportunities for research experiences are also available. Specialized areas for focus include: Deaf Wellness Center and Lazos Fuertes.

Strong Ties is an off-campus community-based outpatient program for the serious and persistently mentally ill population focusing on schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses. An internship at Strong Ties offers students’ exposure to wellness self-management, family psychoeducation, and integrated dual diagnosis treatment. The program utilizes the McFarland Model and operates from an illness management and recovery philosophy. Their treatment strongly emphasizes helping each client set and pursue personal goals and to implement action strategies in their everyday lives. They teach recovery strategies, provide psychoeducation about mental illness and how to build social supports, focus on reducing relapses and coping with stress, problems and symptoms, as well as getting one's needs met in the system. This is accomplished through a combination of group and individual treatments, as well as medication and case management. The interns function as primary therapists under social work supervision and assume the role of coordinating a comprehensive plan for the patient and ensuring treatment goals and objectives are met.

This off-site program located at Science Parkway offers a group oriented treatment approach to patients 18-65 who have acute psychiatric symptoms but do not require inpatient treatment. For hospitalized patients preparing for discharge, the PHP can also assist in their transition back into the community by offering a higher level of outpatient care. Patients respond favorably to this day long program that provides individual therapy, group therapy and resource coordination and liaison. This program is considered an “inpatient unit without walls”. Patients who are treated in this program have a variety of psychiatric diagnoses.

The Mobile Crisis Team is stationed at Jay Street. They work as a team of mental health professionals to assist individuals and families within Monroe County who are experiencing a crisis in mental health. There are no age restrictions. The team serves children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. They intervene in a crisis situation to prevent the crisis from having bad consequences. Crisis intervention is provided to the patient at their location as without intervention, the crisis could poorly, ie, suicide, homicide, child abuse, domestic violence, or some maladaptive strategy that leaves the family and/or the individual vulnerable and at-risk to future crises. The team also helps divert non-lethal individuals from the county’s psychiatric emergency departments.

Accepts 2nd year MSW students

School Based Health Clinic (Frederick Douglass High School)

This is a grant funded program that provides health and mental health services to high school students and families living in the inner city. Social workers provide insight oriented, behavior modification and supportive mental health counseling within an integrated health care setting located within Frederick Douglass High School. Students treated in this setting experience mental health issues stemming from poverty, truancy, trauma, and gang violence.